Oh, I'm not done with the horror genre yet, lots of other subcategories to hit. This time, it's zombie movies. Covering movies you might like in the zombie category is a huge undertaking because it’s a big genre. I probably won’t cover some of your favorites, like if you liked “Land of the Dead,” but I feel with “Night of the Living Dead,” “Dawn of the Dead” (both versions), and “Day of the Dead,” that series is best covered by its more notable episodes.
Once again, I’ve made an attempt to get all the decades for those who like old and new, mild and gory and even a XXX one. I even gave you a gore factor. If you can’t find a zombie movie here that suits your needs, then you probably should find another genre.
Night of the Living Dead (1968): One of my top 5 favorite zombie movies. If I have to tell you about this one, you’ve missed the boat. This is the one that started it all. Black and white, simple, and low budget but unbelievably effective. People are hiding inside of a farmhouse from the torrents of zombies gathering outside as it gets dark. This has a lot of social commentary and a lot of “what would I do if this was happening to me…” moments. Black and white bone-eating gore factor.
Dawn of the Dead (1978 & 2004): The 1978 version is one of my top 5 favorites because when it came out I saw it and I was practically living in the mall and I imagined myself in their situation and what I’d do. It just hit home for me. I put both versions of this because honestly they’re both very good, but for different reasons. If you want to take zombies seriously, the 1978 version is your guy. The premise is folks gathering in a mall to hide out from zombies. The newer version of it has less social commentary and a whole lot more sex, gore, and rock-n-roll. I like them both, but if you can’t take gore, watch the older one. Earlier one has a gore factor that’s adequate without being unreasonable. The newer version is a total gore fest.
Day of the Dead (1985): This one was a twist on the zombie thing. A military underground compound where they study them and experiment with them. Of course, they should have been nicer to the zombies because they’re going to rebel. It’s very dark and very different than the other episodes. I liked it for being unique and having a lot of commentary of the military and government’s role in such things. Gore factor is to be expected.
28 Days Later (2002): One of the top five best zombie movies, I think. I adored this movie. A man wakes up from a coma to find no one in the city of London. He wanders around, finds a couple other living people and they stay on the run from zombies. Apparently, the entire British Isles were shut down when it happened and they’re the only living folks there. It’s so realistic as far as emotion and plausible plotting that it keeps you actively involved long after you’re done watching it. Gore factor is necessary and fairly gory.
Fido (2006): This is one of my top five favorite zombie movies. I didn’t think I’d like it because it’s humorous, but it’s actually very very unsettling. It mocks 1950s American lifestyle and the bomb threat hanging over us. The settings are beautiful and lush and overexaggerated like the times. This is a world where zombies are trained servants, like pets. Brilliant! Gore factor is weak.
Quarantine (2008): A reporter and cameraman tag along with firemen one night in the city and end up in a building that’s on lockdown for a quarantine. It appears residents are become super rabid and zombie-like. I didn’t expect much from this movie and it wasn’t fantastic, but for the one scene in the dark near the end with the main heroine, it’s worth seeing many times. I thought it was one of the scariest scenes since that infamous guy standing in the corner in “Blair Witch.” Very original and creepy. Gore factor is average.
City of the Living Dead (1980): This is a Lucio Fulci movie. It’s not a super fantastic zombie movie, but it has some really well done special effects and originality that, if you adore zombie movies and think you’ve seen them all, this one will give you something new to watch. Gore factor is medium and pretty realistic given the time period it was made.
Shaun of the Dead (2004): My favorite movie that mocks zombie movies and one of my top 5 fav’s. It’s actually scary and funny at the same time, not an easy thing. A great commentary on us living zombies in the world being completely oblivious to life. This is one of my favorite zombie movies. Leave it to the Brit’s, they have a wicked sense of humor! Gore factor is medium to high.
Cemetery Man (1994): I was surprised by this movie. When I was done seeing it, it haunted me for a long time. It was like going down the rabbit hole. I was confused and felt like I’d seen several different movies. It’s really worth a look-see. I’m going to add it to my collection for sure. This is about a man in a small village in Italy who is a lonely cemetery keeper. When the dead start to rise out of their graves, he’s in for it. Has lots of sex and zombies, a little something for everyone. This is also a tongue-in-cheek kind of zombie movie. I absolutely adore the set for this movie—it’s really super surreal and creepy! Gore factor is average.
Resident Evil (2002): A secret experiment and a deadly virus in an underground government installation. This one was inventive and new and I liked it for that. It’s part of a series and I thought that actually the second one, Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) was better from a zombie point of view. This had a huge cult following and is definitely worth seeing the series. It had a bleak end-of-the-world feel to it. It also had Oded Fehr who is one of the hottest men in the world (along with Adrian Paul—my all time fav). I’d watch it just for him! Gore is adequate.
The Evil Dead (1981): Friends stay in a cabin in the woods, come across a book of the dead, recite the passages, and voila! Zombies. This one has quite a cult following and admittedly has a scene involving a tree rape that is really super creepy! This isn’t the kind of horror movie you take seriously. Gore factor is average.
Le notti erotiche dei morti viventi (aka Erotic Nights of the Living Dead) 1980. I only added this one on for folks who might be looking for a XXX version of a zombie movie. There aren’t many out there, but this one I happened upon. It has some heavy duty sex scenes, but they don’t really involve zombies. In fact, the story is rather confusing and convoluted. I powered through watching it about four times and gave up trying to figure out the plot (such a horrible task, but I survived--Hee hee). Gore factor—not really existent, but sex factor is off the scale in the threesome scene.